My evening started halfway through the Trouble Andrew set, and the crowd was having none of it. The pro-snowboarder's (mostly) skatepunk was NOT a hit with the overwhelmingly straight-ahead hardcore (with a dash of reggae, natch) fan base.

Bad Brains finally blasted off after 10:30. Clad in a sportcoat with some sort of body-armor underneath, HR walked calmly to the mic with hands together (in praise of Jah?), and ripped into "Attitude" from the self-titled ROIR record. The floor shook. Over the next hour, the band ran through other selections from the self-titled record ("Sailin' On", "Pay To Cum"), I Against I ("Re-Ignition", "Sacred Love") and even Quickness (Daryl began "Soul Craft" with the album's "verbal" intro), with the audience becoming absolutely unglued. In between the hardcore mayhem (and ensuing mosh-pit antics), Bad Brains slowed it up with reggae such as "I & I Survive"... adding delay to the drums, vox, and guitar tracks for that extra dubby feel.

But it wasn't all chocolate waterfalls and rainbows: The mix for Bad Brains was extremely muddy from my vantage point, favoring Daryl Jenifer's tremendously booming basslines instead of balancing with Dr. Know's ripping fretwork. HR mumbled through lyrics and was off at times. Their set was only one hour long, including the encore, "I Against I".

But for every ounce of criticism that I could possibly lay, postive energy was returned tenfold from the electric crowd, and I just could not help but be swept up in it too.

So what did I learn? A few things:
1) It is possible to take a picture while crowdsurfing (see below) (Tim Griffin take note)
2) Old hardcore dudes still mosh.
3) Bad Brains have still got it.
4) Daryl Jenifer is the coolest motherfucker on the planet.

More pictures, and partial setlists, below...

Rival Schools...

Bad Brains...

A guy (not Tim Griffin) (obviously) attempting to take a picture while crowdsurfing...

Rival Schools Partial Setlist

Travel by Telephone
Everything Has It's Point
High Acetate
Undercovers On
Good Things
?
Used For Glue
How Soon Is Now?

Bad Brains Partial Setlist

Attitude
Sailin' On
I & I Survive
Banned In DC
Soulcraft
Sacred Love
Re-Ignition
Pay To Cum
I Against I

Went in with low expectations for the Brains after the last few times I've seen them and they were way better than any of their recent gigs. Doc, Darryl and Earl always kill it, but if you know anything about HR...he's fucking gone. He was gone last night too, but seemed to be enjoying himself. Plus the crowd energy was Dope.

Not really sure why people are so on Rival Schools' dick. I liked Quicksand too, but they're just generic to my ears. Walter sounded like ass last night too.

I agree with the sound mix sucking, you could barely hear the guitar. the energy was good but HR sucked the life out of those songs. he just doesn't care anymore, I think he just wants to be a reggae singer. Is rival schools the band that played before them? I concur, they sucked.